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2013's After Earth is not a well regarded film.
With an woeful 11% on Rotten Tomatoes and 4.8 on IMDb it's widely considered a stinker. Critics felt After Earth was a dull, ploddingly paced exercise in sentimental sci-fi written by Will Smith solely to bootstrap Jaden Smith's movie career. I have to be honest I skipped this at the cinema after reading the reviews and I would likely have never watched it had I not discovered fanediting. It being a much maligned film is the very reason I decided to buy a copy to simply to see whether I could do something with it.
Upon watching the film two days ago I found myself pleasantly surprised at the range of sci fi ideas it brought to the table. It also has a pretty unique style with it's breathing gel, transforming weapons and a ship who's quasi-organic aesthetic is reminiscent of Farscape's Moya. From a technical perspective there are obvious budget issues, the CGI looks obvious and is very dated compared to its contemporaries. The costumes and sets in the opening act also look cheap and tacky. There is a LOT of exposition and clunky dialogue in the opening act and whole scenes that serve as world building for things that are ultimately inconsequential. It also has overly saccharine flash backs throughout the movie which are not just cringe inducing but repetitive.
My edit Planetfall cuts 37 and a half minutes reducing the run time from 1:40 to 1:02:27 and jumps straight into the action leaving a tighter paced less sentimental film about a boy having to brave the savage wilderness to to save his life and the life of his father.
A comprehensive cut list and samples will follow tomorrow. I have a 720p workprint for anyone who'd like to offer thoughts and feedback on this project so far.